How good is Frankel? Privately, it is being suggested that Henry Cecil is now prepared to believe this powerful colt can prove the best he has trained after 40 years in the game, during which time his horses have won 24 English Classics and a record 72 races at Royal Ascot.

If you were to ask him that question directly, his answer would probably be diffident, jokey or evasive, in keeping with the self-deprecating reticence that has helped make him so popular with followers of the sport. But the point is moot because Cecil has been so overwhelmed with requests for interviews ahead of Saturday's 2,000 Guineas that he is making himself unavailable.

This is merely the latest in a long list of excellent decisions by the master trainer, according to Lord Grimthorpe, racing manager to Frankel's owner, Prince Khalid Abdullah. "I want him to concentrate on the horse," he says, and it is just barely a joke.

"We've had a few good horses in my time," Grimthorpe says as he discusses the level of media interest, "but nothing has been like this. And it's been coming from all corners of the world."

Frankel is unbeaten in five starts and no bookmaker will give you better than 4-7 about his chance of making it six at Newmarket next weekend. But his raw talent is only part of the fascination because this son of Galileo is also vulnerable, high-mettled, at risk of burning through his reserves of energy before reaching halfway.

In the Dewhurst Stakes last October, Frankel was squeezed up by the horses on either side of him within strides of leaving the stalls and immediately looked as if he was spoiling for a fight. "He is a ticking time-bomb, this horse," says Jim McGrath, Channel 4's racing analyst. "He could hardly be in better hands but there is always a chance that he might boil over one day.

"Henry very rarely puts any kind of contraption on his horses, he likes them to have as plain a bridle as possible, but this one wears a cross-noseband to keep his gob shut and the bit in place. If a horse gets his tongue over the bit, then it becomes a test of strength between him and the jockey and there'll only be one outcome."

McGrath reports another insight into Cecil's determination to keep Frankel calm. When the three-year-old entered the paddock before his first run of the year in Newbury's Greenham Stakes last weekend, he was fitted with a lip chain, designed to ensure that his two handlers did not lose control of him.

McGrath says it looked like "a dummy you might give a baby to suck on". But Frankel showed no sign of temperament that day, walking round the paddock "like an old sheep".

Ian Mongan, who rode Frankel's pacemaker, Picture Editor, confirms that Frankel seems to have calmed down since last year. "Part of my job at Newbury was to lead him down quietly to the start, but my fella was a bit keen and Frankel got a bit left behind. I was looking round for him but he was just cantering down in his own time."

There was no need for Mongan to look round in the race, as Frankel shot past him with three furlongs to go. "He's made the rest of them look average and we were all on horses rated 100 plus. If he can do that when he's 80% fit, what can he do when he's 100%?"

Tom Queally struggled to get Frankel back down to walking pace after the pair had zipped past the Newbury winning post and Shane Featherstonhaugh, who rides the horse in most of his work, is reported to have had a similar experience on the Watered Gallop at Newmarket on Friday. Frankel has always impressed in his work, though one report that he overtook a train while working parallel to the railway line is probably best taken with a pinch of salt.

"I rode him twice in his two-year-old days, before he ever ran, and you could tell he was an absolute machine," says Jimmy Quinn, who regularly rides work for Cecil. "You come back asking, 'What on earth is this thing?'

"He was all class and for the work he'd done at the time I rode him, it was unbelievable how forward he was. I sit on a lot of horses but he gives you such a different feel. You should see how much he's tightened up, just from running at Newbury the other day."

Most of those at Newmarket will be hoping to see a brilliant performance by an exceptional colt but they will also be drawn by the chance to witness Cecil's return to the top of his profession. He has not won a colts' Classic for 12 years, since when he has been treated for stomach cancer and seen his fortunes dip to the point where he trained just a dozen winners in all of 2005.

If the crowd's goodwill could make a horse go faster, Frankel would run Saturday's mile in about five seconds flat.